CITY ECONO GUEST HOUSE HONGKONG

By now, you may have guessed I am no backpacker!

But, I did try to stay in a Hong Kong guest house!

Hong Kong Hotels are really expensive and since I was staying for about 7 days, I thought, staying in a three- to five-star hotel the whole time would be too expensive!

I heard that some of these guest houses are fine, especially, if you just go home to sleep, but I also read from reviews that many of the guest houses in Chungking Mansion in Tsimshatsui (which was the best location) weren't that good and the environment wasn't that safe. Others say, Chungking would be a "hit and miss" situation.

Since my brother was coming with me, I dared stay in a Guest House!

His friend suggested the City Econotel in Jordan which was just a MTR ride away.

This guest house is presently renovated and very clean and run by a friendly family.

These guest houses are actually included in Tripadvisor and other groups like Agoda or Bookings.com, where we read reviews about these guest houses but bookings have to be done by email to cityecono@yahoo.com. 
I booked by email to Jenny and there is no need to give a downpayment.
City Econo Guest House got the number 6 rating among the guest houses as rated by TripAdvisor!


Here is their website: www.cityecono.com and I copied their website description to this blog.

City Econo Guesthouse is a newly renovated guesthouse run by a friendly family. We provide accommodation for tourists or business people who are looking for affordable, clean and conveniently located places to stay.

We have 28 rooms ranging from single, double, triple and quad rooms. All rooms are newly renovated and equipped with private bathroom, TV, phone, air conditioner, bed linen and computer encoded room keys. Besides that, all rooms are Wi-Fi Internet enabled.

City Econo Guesthouse is located at famous Nathan Road at Jordan area Kowloon. It is surrounded by many dining restaurants, markets and shopping areas.

Located just above Jordan MTR Station and many bus stops which makes your transportation to other areas easy and convenient. 

ADDRESS: 

5-6/F Cumberland house

227 Nathan Road
      or
38 Pilkem Street

Jordan - Kowloon
Hong Kong

Whenever we ask Jenny what airport bus to ride, she keeps telling us to ride the taxi.
The City Econo Guest House or the City Guest House, however, is not easy to locate so before riding the taxi, make sure you listed the address of the place and the phone number.

The Hong Kong taxis contact their base for the location and if not, they contact the guest house directly.

When we arrived at the place, the taxi driver said, "Oh, a very, very small hotel!", as if to explain why he couldn't find it at all! 

These are the instructions to go to the City Econo Guest House.

From Airport
Airport Bus No.A22 or A21 and get off at Jordan MTR Station
From Shenzhen
Take KCR to Tsim Sha Tsui then change MTR to Jordan
From China Ferry Terminal  
Take Taxi to Jordan MTR Bowring Street
From Macau Ferry          
Take MTR to Jordan Station

We actually took the Night Bus N11 from the airport to Jordan, but since we missed the Jordan station, we ended up in Tsimshatsui just before entering the tunnel to HongKong Island!

We crossed to the overpass to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University area to look for  the taxi.

Direct the taxi to go to Bowring Street. They don't know Pilkem Street.

Instead of City Econo Guest House or City Econotel, look for the City Guest House sign which is in between so many other signs!

Can you see the sign? CITY GUEST HOUSE for tourist only 

This is 225 Nathan Road just beside the building, which on the other side is 227 Nathan Road. This is the view from the C2 entrance of Jordan Station.

there are ongoing renovations in the area, but there are only shops present so the environment is good.

As we enter the City Econo Guest House, we pass by a small aisle directed to the elevator.

From the elevator, this is the view to the entrance in Pilkem Street. Note the ongoing renovations...

The elevator is old and makes some sounds. Once, it closed too fast and the other time, it closes too slow! Other than this, the rest of the place is clean and fine.

The place is at the 5th and 6th Floor of the Cumberland House. So we first went to the 6th Floor, where Jenny, the owner was.

Entrance to the 6th Floor of the City Econo Guest House, where you need a special key to be able to enter the main door.

Then, we moved down to the 5th Floor for our Triple Person Room.

http://www.cityecono.com/

We have 28 rooms consist of single/double (HKD$450), triple (HKD$550) and quad rooms (HKD$650).

All rooms has private bathroom, TV, AC, phone and Wi-Fi Internet.

In US dollars, the double room cost about $ 57.00 (about PHP 2500.00) while the triple room cost about $ 70.00 (PHP 3000.00).
In the Philippines, these are the prices of nicer three to five star hotels.
For example, the room in the AIM Hotel (as in the December blog) is only about PHP 2,100.00 for a single person and about PHP 2,600.00 for two persons in a room and the beds are really large!
Of course, Hong Kong really has a higher standard of living!!! 


This is the narrow hallway to our room but clean.

This is our first room: Triple Person Room (HK$550.00)

Since I expected the rooms to be small, I booked a triple person room so we get a double bed and a super single bed.

note the blue slippers under the bed

The beds were fine and there was a dresser with a mirror in front of the beds which was convenient and the luggages could be placed below this dresser.

There is a television set but we didn't watch because we were always out and maybe, we might not understand the shows anyway.

There is an air-conditioner, but she adviced that there may be no need because it was cold.

Indeed, we didn't use the air-conditioner since the draft could enter and we were under our blankets even if the doors and windows were all shut.

Internet was available but there were times, the signal was erratic. If so, Jenny (the owner) said to just go to the living area where the signal was stronger.

The bathroom was small and narrow but acceptable and clean. She provided towels, shampoo and body wash in containers.

Note that slippers were also provided.

entrance to the bathroom...the size matches the width of the room 

on one side is the sink and shower 

on the other side

But, take note, there was hot and cold water control which is very important since it is so cold in this December air!

There is a refrigerator and an airpot (thermos) at the hallway outside the rooms if needed.

The room was cleaned daily and the towels also changed daily.

However, on the fourth day, we had to move to a twin room which cost (HK$450.00), which is the very small room indeed.

After bringing in all our shopping bags, I think there is almost no place to sleep.

Actually, the room consists of two very small single beds.

The single bed in the triple person room is bigger than the single bed in this room.

This is the whole room.

There is no table, so quite difficult since my brother and I were both techies, and so we had so many gadgets with us.

The bathroom is even smaller. This is the whole bathroom.

Well, the location is very convenient since the MTR is just a minute away and the Money Changer is also just a minute away. 

But, to get a better deal better go to Mongkok for a higher exchange rate.

Ex. Tsim: 7.0 to 7.6 HK$ per US dollar but can be 7.65 HK$ in a few changers (with Filipina there); 7.65 HK$ per US dollar in Jordan and 7.73 HK$ per US dollar in Mongkok.

This is the location of the City Econo Guest House or the City Guest House taken during the day.

view from the Jordan Station C2 exit

note again: CITY GUEST HOUSE 

JORDAN STATION C2 EXIT

At the time we stayed there, the electronic things were secure, although, we did put it in the luggages.

Well, I would still stay in the City Econo Guest House but I would choose the Triple Person Room. I don't think I would stay in the Twin Room unless I came alone!